G-SHOCK Watch

History

The G-Shock was conceptualised in 1981 by Casio engineer Kikuo Ibe when he accidentally dropped and broke a pocket watch given to him by his father.[1] The G-Shock was conceived as a watch which would have "triple 10" resistance, meaning it would have a battery life of 10 years, have a water resistance of 10 bar and could survive a fall of 10 metres.

A team of three individuals was selected by Ibe which was known as "team tough". The team had assembled and tested nearly 200 prototypes but were still not able to achieve the conception criteria. During a visit to a playground, Ibe discovered that in a rubber ball, the centre of the ball doesn't suffer the effects of the shock during a bounce on a rough surface which gave him the idea to implement that concept into the watch. With that in mind, the team set out to develop a watch using such a concept and in 1983, the first G-Shock, the DW-5000C, was launched.[2][3][4][5][6]

Current models

Casio G-Shock Rangeman GPR-B1000 with GPS and with tough solar technology

The DW-5600C/E is the simplest model in the square G-Shock model range and a homage to the original DW-5000

The line of watches now includes atomic clock synchronisation and tough solar technology. Many newer models feature metal (steel or titanium) bands and a mix of analogue-digital timekeeping, analogue timekeeping or digital timekeeping.

The DW models are standard battery-powered G-Shocks while GW models of the G-Shock come with either Tough Solar or Multi-Band atomic timekeeping or both.

Twice a year, the basic models are updated. New limited models are introduced more frequently throughout the year. Special models are released upon the anniversary celebration of the G-Shock brand and are sold through selected retail channels.

Casio also produces collaboration models, often with popular fashion brands and artists, like A Bathing Ape (Bape), Stüssy,[11] Xlarge, Eric Haze, KIKS TYO, Nano Universe, Levi's, Lifted Research Group, as well as Coca-Cola, Pulp68 Skateshop, Lucky Strike and Marlboro.

Multi-Band 6

The Multi-Band 6 is a radio control technology first introduced on the GW9200 Riseman in 2008[19] and is a successor to the Multi-Band 5 (which supported synchronisation with 5 atomic time transmitters around the world) and Wave Ceptor (which supported synchronisation with atomic time transmitters present in the United States and Japan only) technologies. G-Shock watches with Multi-Band 6 technology can synchronise with one of the six atomic time transmitters in the world in order to keep accurate time. The following is a list of the six atomic time transmitters:

Japan

Watches can tune in to two locations:

The 40 kHz signal from JJY at Mount Otakadoya, near Fukushima (Ohtakadoyayama).

The 60 kHz signal from the Haganeyama Transmitter at Mount Hagane (Haganeyama).

China

Watches tune to the 68.5 kHz signal from BPC at Shangqiu. This is the newest additional signal; older multi-band 5 watches will not be able to connect to this signal, and must be upgraded to a newer multi-band 6 watch in order to synchronise from there.

United States

Watches tune to the 60 kHz signal from WWVB at Fort Collins.

United Kingdom

Watches tune to the 60 kHz MSF at Anthorn.

Germany

Watches tune to the 77.5 kHz low frequency time signal radio station DCF77 at Mainflingen.

Guinness World Record title

On December 12, 2017, the G-Shock earned the Guinness World Record for the heaviest vehicle to drive over a watch. The officials from Guinness World Record drove a 24.97-tonne truck over the Casio G-Shock DW5600E-1. The G-Shock is the first watch by any company being able to withstand the challenge.[20]

List of models

Astronaut Thomas Reiter during the 2006 Expedition 14 wearing a G-Shock DW-5900 on the International Space Station

Master of G

Frogman

Gulfman

Rangeman

Mudmaster

Gulfmaster

Gravitymaster

Riseman

G-Lide Surfing editions

These models were released in 1996, designed and specifically made for the surfing market. These models were the very first G-Shock watches to have a countdown timer. The countdown timers on these models were designed to count down for surfing competitions, some of the later models have a yacht timer, moon and tide graphs so a surfer can keep track of the progress while competing on the water. Many of these models came equipped with a pair of strap adapters and a single one-piece resin or nylon band. These styles of band are also known as "crossband" in the Japanese domestic market. Resin bands for these models had open gaps or slits through the band. Casio refers to them as drainage slits; the idea is that water will drain out with no problems while in action when surfing. Most of these series models had a translucent band. These models were branded as X-Treme for the Japanese domestic market.